DIYbanter - View Single Post - Tips for pigtailing / wirenutting outlets with 12AWG wire

wrote:
The original poster pre-wired the pigtail to the outlet. The major issue
is the grounds can not be disconnected to connect the pigtail.

Sorry if I seem a little thick here. After all, I AM the original
poster. :-)

Anyway, this is a new install of outlets on a circuit that currently is
not powered.

If I have my outlets wired with three grounds going into a standard
wire nut (one going to the outlet) I don't understand how replacing a
bad outlet will interrupt the grounding of the rest of the circuit. If
the ground wire is separated from the 'bad' outlet by loosening the
screw on the outlet where the pigtail is attached. In this scenario,
the wire nut with the three wires is never taken apart so continuity is
maintained.

Am I correct on this? Maybe I just don't understand the issue fully.
Also, I don't really understand how the green grounding wire nut
improves the situation.

The one exception to this I can see is if I replace a standard outlet
with a new one that has a pre-wired ground which can't be disconnected
on the outlet side (like maybe a GFCI or something). In this case, you
must go into the existing standard wire nut connection being used for
grounding. I can see the potential for grounding interruption in this
case.

Sorry for being a pain but I'd really appreciate some clairification.

You are not being a pain. You are in fact correct that if the outlet,
and were used the metal box, are connected to jumpers which are then
spliced to the Equipment Grounding Conductors (EGCs); i.e. pigtailed;
then no such hazard exist. The insistence on green wire nuts and crimp
leaves on the part of some Authorities Having Jurisdiction (AHJ) is the
result of a misapplication of language of section 250.4(C). That
language requires that Grounding Electrode Conductors be installed
without reversible splices. vis.
250.64 Grounding Electrode Conductor Installation.
Grounding electrode conductors shall be installed as specified in
250.64(A) through (F).
(C) Continuous. The grounding electrode conductor shall be installed in
one continuous length without a splice or joint, unless spliced only by
irreversible compression-type connectors listed for the purpose or by
the exothermic welding process.
What is missing from this position is a complete appreciation of the
definition of a Grounding Conductor, Equipment verses that of a
Grounding Electrode Conductor. Vis.
Grounding Conductor, Equipment. The conductor used to connect the
non–current-carrying metal parts of equipment, raceways, and other
enclosures to the system grounded conductor, the grounding electrode
conductor, or both, at the service equipment or at the source of a
separately derived system.
Grounding Electrode Conductor. The conductor used to connect the
grounding electrode(s) to the equipment grounding conductor, to the
grounded conductor, or to both, at the service, at each building or
structure where supplied from a common service, or at the source of a
separately derived system.
This is one of the reasons that I support the proposal to change the
term "Grounding Conductor, Equipment" to "Bonding Conductor, Equipment."
The actual purpose of what we call the Equipment Grounding Conductor
(EGC) is to bond all of the non current carrying metallic parts of the
electric system to each other and, most importantly, to the grounded
current carrying conductor so as to provide a low impedance pathway back
to the source of the current in order to facilitate the operation of the
faulted circuits Over Current Protective Device (OCPD); i.e. the fuse or
circuit breaker. These conductors are installed on airplanes and on
manufactured and stick built structures that are on ice. Neither of
those can be effectively grounded but the careful installation of EGCs
still provides the needed low impedance fault clearing path. What we
are actually trying to accomplish is to bond everything that does not
carry current together.
--
Tom Horne

"This alternating current stuff is just a fad. It is much too dangerous
for general use." Thomas Alva Edison